Enewsletter

Notes
from Vegan Outreach

Jack
on Humanity’s Insecurity

Vegan Outreach’s
President, Jack Norris, has a great
blog post about the endless quest to find
something that “separates us from the
animals,” concluding:

Back in 1988, I
read an article in Psychology Today
that ran down the list of the different traits
people have traditionally thought separate
humans from other animals, and one by one
showed that some animals also possess each
of those traits. They concluded, tongue in
cheek, that what separates us from other animals
is that we are the only species that tries
to find things that separate us from the other
animals.

Dr. Carl Sagan and
Dr. Ann Druyan summarized
the bottom line in their book Shadows of
Forgotten Ancestors:

Humans – who
enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet
other animals – have had an understandable
penchant for pretending animals do not feel
pain. A sharp distinction between humans and
“animals” is essential if we are
to bend them to our will, make them work for
us, wear them, eat them – without any
disquieting tinges of guilt or regret.

It is unseemly of us, who often behave so
unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend
that only humans can suffer. The behavior
of other animals renders such pretensions
specious. They are just too much like us.

Jon
Camp on His Latest Tour

After 68 nights of
sleeping on someone else’s bed, couch, futon,
air mattress or floor, I’m back in Takoma Park.
Stats for the tour: 40,579 VO booklets handed
to students at 75 schools; 9 talks given; 6,516
miles driven. Profuse thanks to those who housed
me, joined me for outreach, and to everyone
who donates to Vegan Outreach!

Any contribution you make will be doubled,
dollar for dollar, allowing VO’s dedicated activists to reach more
people, tearing down the walls that hide the truth and prevent people
from living up to their morals.

Thanks so much for
your support – we’ll continue to do
our very best to make sure whatever
you can afford goes as far as possible for the
animals!

From
“Your Daily Dose of Vegan Outreach!”
Blog

As you know, Vegan
Outreach doesn’t promote the “health
argument,” (also see Post of the Month,
below) in part because it generally focuses
on mammals / the majority of people are convinced
chicken and fish are “healthy.”
This has led most people to consume many
more intensively raised smaller animals (like
arsenic-fed
chickens).

Unfortunately, many people have
a hard time having any empathy for fish. For
people who don’t eat land animals but consume
fish, pointing out that humans treat water like
an unregulated
dump (and other
arguments) can sometimes help people get
to the next stage.

Product
of the Week

Office:
“Some folks have noted how many pictures
VO uses from Amy’s.
That’s in part because they’ve been very generous
in providing high-quality pictures. But also,
they make such good, quick, and widely available
vegan grub! For example: the Black Bean Enchilada
Whole Meal. Yum!”

Notes
from All Over

Post
of the Month: Reliable Nutrition Information
for Vegans

Ginny Messina,
MPH, RD, explains: “[T]here are
very few issues in nutrition where all of the
studies are in agreement. Even where most of
the research shows more or less the same thing,
there will always be a few outliers – a
few studies that, for whatever reason, come
up with different results. So it’s easy
to make any case you would like in nutrition
by ‘selectively citing’ the research.
That is, choose the studies that support your
theory and ignore the rest.”
Please read the full article.

Lightning
Round

Notes
from Our Members

Peggy
Koteen lets another Cal Poly student learn
about how he can make a real difference.

Aleta,
Cassandra, and I reached 900 students
at SUNY Purchase – a new record. Great take
rate and overwhelmingly positive responses in
general! Some of the comments:
“Oh
man, this is the packet that made me vegetarian!”
“Aw, this
is the booklet that made me go vegetarian last
year!”
“I went
vegetarian from this!”
“I like
meat but this is just so horrible!” (one
student to her friend)
A group of students
Cassandra encountered said that they read the
leaflets and were going to go vegetarian. She
asked, “Really?” and they responded
affirmatively!—Eileen Botti, 4/12/10

Awesome
day at Louisiana Tech. Highlight:
two women who had lots of questions. When I
saw them again later, they said they were going
veg!—Vic Sjodin, 4/15/10

Receptive
group at Glen Dale Community College.
One lady expressed sincere appreciation and
is working towards going veg now. Another lady
went veg that moment! They both got Guides.—Nikki Benoit, 4/8/10

Friendly
/ supportive comments at Widener
University today. One woman came back to tell
me she used to be vegan but had fallen off the
wagon; after reading the pamphlet she was going
back to being vegan. Another guy came back to
tell me that the pamphlet was really effective,
and that he was definitely going to be making
changes to his diet. —Nick Cooney, 4/14/10

Four
Whittier College students (beauty school
dropouts?) intently study the booklets they
received from Nikki Benoit.

I love
you guys! I feel so good helping
animals, and have helped some of my friends
go vegan. Thanks for inspiring me!—FR, 4/29/10

Reached
lots of people at Indiana-Purdue
University’s Earth Day. We had many good conversations
with people who are really interested in changing
their diet. Gretchen educated three kids about
how animals are treated and killed for food.
They were all ears as their mom also listened
without intervening at all. I met someone who
went vegan after reading the VO literature displayed
at Loving Cafe. I met another girl who cut chicken
out of her diet after receiving an Even
If You Like Meat from me in the past.—Heather Leughmyer, 4/14/10

At Castleton
State College, I had individuals
coming up to ask me for a booklet. The woman
who housed me this weekend went vegan six years
ago after visiting Vegan Outreach’s website.
As a result, her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson
are also now vegan.—Jon Camp, 4/12/10

After
receiving a booklet from Karen James, a
student at the University of Hartford studies
the truth about modern agribusiness.

I met
a ton of vegetarians / vegans at
Humboldt State, but also gave a lot of Guides
to non-veg folks interested in learning more
about how to change their diet. Many people
stopped to chat for a minute or two today which
always makes me happy because the discussions
are always so positive and productive.
Last Friday, I
was joined by Rachel and Dan for a really awesome
day of outreach at Seattle Pacific University.
Turns out Dan went veg from a VO booklet in
2000, and now works for Sea Shepherd.—Brian Grupe, 4/19/10

My mother-in-law
works for the Kansas City Royals baseball stadium
selling hot dogs and she told me today that they
now serve veggie dogs and veggie burgers! Cool!—Leah Wagner, 4/19/10

Sara
and Sen joined me last week at
the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis. We
met a number of vegetarians / vegans. Both Sen
and I had people tell us getting an Even
If You Like Meat booklet in the past led
them to go vegetarian.
After she got
a booklet from me in the morning, Allie came
back and joined me in leafleting the University
of Iowa today. Great feedback, including one
woman who said she had gotten a flier in October
when I was there and went vegetarian. Then about
three months ago, she went vegan! —Fred Tyler, 4/14/10

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.